The 2021-22 regular season is over for the Houston Rockets, but the fun of a highly anticipated 2022 NBA offseason is just beginning.
The Rockets (20-62) will have two first-round picks in the 2022 NBA draft, with their own coming somewhere in the top five (depending on draft lottery results) and another via Brooklyn at No. 17 overall.
Then, 2022 free agency arrives just after the draft. While the Rockets are not expected to be below the salary cap this offseason, they have enough expiring salaries (led by John Wall, Eric Gordon, and Christian Wood) to where Houston could easily get involved on the trade market, should they desire — including hypothetical sign-and-trades for free agents, in which those expiring veterans could be used for matching purposes.
The Rockets could also pursue free agents by offering their non-taxpayer mid-level exception (NT-MLE), which is available to above-the-cap teams. That would allow them to offer a starting annual salary of approximately $10 million. However, it remains to be seen how aggressive Houston will bid, since they might not want to prematurely cut into their projected 2023 salary cap room unless it is for a highly desirable player — or a contract at such a clear value that it can easily be moved later, if needed.
Here’s a look at some of the key offseason dates and deadlines. Since the NBA has not officially released its 2022-23 calendar, some dates beyond the June 23 draft are projections based on the 2019 offseason schedule (i.e. the last time the league had an offseason on its usual calendar).